How to fix your Sennheiser HD25

Sennheiser HD25, The King of the Clubs

The Sennheiser HD 25 is a great headphone for DJs and so it has been for the vast majority of time. It's noise isolation, durability, lightness and it's pivoting hinge make it ideal for the DJs. There are enough reasons why you get to see these headphones being used by the top DJs on the biggest stages we all ever dream of playing one day. Even TV commentators on ESPN use them for their well known reliability. I've owned my pair for more than 7 years now, they have never been in a hardcover case and still hold it's shape.

Is one of your earcups signal faulty?

Fualty signal from one earcup is a common problem these headphones suffer after a few years of heavy use. If you get no signal from one earcup and as you wiggle the connector the signal might come back for a bit, then I know what could be the issue. I’ve struggled with this faulty connection for years. At first I just opened them, removed the tiny spring coils, re-inserted them and that was enough. With the years my solution stopped working.

Solution

I’ve found out it comes down to a simple solution that can save you from buying a new pair.

1. Remove the cushions and disconnect the earcups.

2. With a set of small pliers, carefully remove the plastic grill, you might need to pull with a bit of force. Be very careful as what is behind is the diaphragm… You kill the diaphragm, you kill your headphones.

   3.1 (optional) Remove the springs that make contact with your cables and clean them with a contact cleaner, this will help improve it’s connectivity. Reinsert the coils as they were.

3. Cut a small piece of tape and fold it so that the sticky sides join (or use a piece of paper… duh).

4. Insert the tape or paper in between the plastic wall and the coil.

5. Put everything back together and enjoy more life out of your headphones :)

This solves the issue that old coils get, no matter their material. After a few years they get loose and the connection is no longer as sturdy as when you just first got them, hence the faulty connection. Hope this guide helps you out and get’s you back on track with your beloved HD 25 just like it did for me.

I will be posting a video on youtube where I will show you step by step how I fixed mine. In the meantime you can check my 6 year review of the headphones.

Other ideas

I went to a jewler and asked him to make me spring coils made of 14k gold to fix the audio connection. Long story short… it didn’t. But as an engineer I do know it helps improve the connection quality. I think newer versions of the HD25 now have gold coils included, but as I mentioned before, the issue lies on the contact level and strength applied by the coils on the the cable tips. I wanted to give this idea a try as I found the guys from Custom Cans were at one time selling them, but couldn’t find them anymore.